DK's Dugout

In honor of “National Reading Week” I have decided to pay honor to the alphabet, Red Sox style. Below is a listing of the greatest Red Sox players of all time by the letters, from A to Z. And while some were easy selections (not much of a question on who was winning ‘W’ for example), others may spawn a bit of a debate: Clemens or Cronin? Fisk or Foxx? Vaughn or Varitek?

And now onto the chosen twenty-five, a list that features seven Hall of Famers, a slew of MVPs and the only Red Sox ever to have a last name beginning with the letter ‘I’….

A-Tony Armas. Obviously Hank Aaron was never a Red Sox when there is a Tony Armas-Mike Andrews debate for ‘A’ honors. Armas played in Boston for four seasons, making the ‘84 All-Star team, a year that he led the league with 43 home runs and 123 RBI. Armas also gets bonus points since he’s responsible for producing Tony Armas, Jr., who Boston traded as part of the package to get Pedro. Before long Bronson Arroyo may be knocking Armas off the A-list.

B-Wade Boggs. The Chicken Man easily beats out The Rooster (Rick Burleson), his closest competition to be named best ‘B’. Boggs made eight All-Star teams and won five batting titles while with the Sox, and got 2,098 of his over-3,000 hits in Boston.

C-Roger Clemens. Joe Cronin’s #4 is hanging on the rightfield facade at Fenway, but #21 will eventually be joining him, and it is Clemens who is named the ‘C’ of these Sox. The Rocket won his first three Cy Young Awards in Boston and was the 1986 MVP. He’s tied for the most wins in Red Sox history (192) and is easily the team’s all-time strikeout leader (2,590).

D-Bobby Doerr. The man Boston retired #1 in honor of is also the #1 ‘D’. The Hall of Fame second baseman played his entire career for the Sox, and he beats out solid centerfielders Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Damon here. (Note: DiMaggio and Damon are about as opposite as could be; one was known as The Little Professor and the other is known as a giant idiot).

E-Dwight Evans. Dewey was an eight time Gold Glove winner and is among the leaders in all of Boston’s all-time offensive stats. Since Dennis Eckersley made the Hall of Fame due mainly to his work in Oakland, Evans was the easy pick here.

F-Jimmie Foxx. Carlton Fisk may have his #27 retired in Fenway, but I’m going with ‘Double X’ here. In six-plus seasons with the Sox, the Hall of Fame first baseman posted a .320 average with 222 home runs and 788 RBI. He holds the single-season Sox records for home runs (50) and RBI (175), both done in 1938.

G-Nomar Garciaparra. Many have said ‘good riddance’ to Nomar since he was traded last July, but he remains the greatest ‘G’ as well. Two-time batting champ’s .323 average with Boston ranks fourth in team history, behind only three Hall of Famers. The 1997 Rookie of the Year made five All-Star teams in nine Sox-seasons.

H-Harry Hooper. The Hall of Fame outfielder played his first 12 seasons with Boston. He was a star on four Red Sox World Championship teams (1912, ’15, ’16 and ’18) and is the franchise’s all-time leader in triples (130) and stolen bases (300).

I-Daryl Irvine. Reliever pitched for the Sox from 1990-92. Finished with a career 4-5 record and 5.68 ERA, but as the only ‘I’ in Red Sox history was an automatic selection here. Irvine’s greatest accomplishment in baseball? Being named to this list.

J-Jackie Jensen. The 1958 MVP played seven seasons in Boston, making two All-Star teams. During his stay with the Sox he lead the league in RBI three times and in stolen bases once. Shockingly there was almost no competition for this letter. Johnson? Jackson? Jones? Bueller?

K-Ellis Kinder. Sox pitcher from 1948-55 was named The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year in ’49 when he went 23-6 with a 3.36 ERA. The starter-turned-closer ended up recording 91 saves in his Sox career, good for third in franchise history.

L-Fred Lynn. Sorry D-Lowe fans, I had to bypass your boy here. In 1975 Lynn was the first player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season (since done by Ichiro). He was an All-Star in all six seasons in Boston (’75-’80) and won four Gold Glove Awards.

M-Pedro Martinez. Say what you will about him leaving, when Pedro was in Boston he was awesome! His .760 winning percentage with Boston is the highest of any pitcher for any team in major league history. In seven seasons he won two Cy Young Awards and got robbed of the 1999 MVP Award. Led the AL in strikeouts five straight seasons (1999-2003). Final Sox start: seven shutout innings against St Louis in Game 3 of the 2004 World Series, picking up the win.

N-Trot Nixon. The first current Red Sox to make the list, Trot easily wins due to minimal ‘N’ competition (Tim Naehring was runner-up). The starting right fielder on the 2004 World Series Champions ranks in the top-10 of the team’s all-time slugging percentage leaders, and is sure to move onto many other all-time lists if he finishes his career with the team that drafted him in the first round of the ’93 draft.

O-David Ortiz. The only other active Sox player on the list, Big Papi’s biggest competition to be the “Big O” on this list came from Troy O’Leary and Jose Offerman…. so this was not the toughest selection. In only two-plus seasons with the Sox, Ortiz already has: two top-five finishes in the MVP voting, an All-Star selection, a Silver Slugger Award and was named 2004 ALCS MVP. In 2004 he finished second in the AL in both home runs and RBI and was a main reason why the Sox were able to end a certain 86-year drought.

P-Johnny Pesky. Both Rico Petrocelli (210 homers) and Mel Parnell (123 wins) had outstanding Red Sox careers, but there is no way to leave #6 off of the list. Pesky finished with a .313 batting average and an on-base percentage over .400 as a member of the Red Sox during his eleven-year stint as Boston’s shortstop. In 1946 Pesky made the All-Star team and helped to lead the Sox to the American League pennant. And, of course, he has the most famous pole in New England.

Q-Carlos Quintana. Who else would be the ‘Q’ on this list other than “The Q”, Carlos Quintana? Perhaps his career totals of .276, 19 homers and 165 RBI over 438 games are not overly impressive, but needless to say there was not a ton of competition here.

R-Jim Rice. In one of the most competitive letters Jim Ed battled Babe Ruth, Manny Ramirez and Dick Radatz among others to earn ‘R’ honors. Rice sits behind only Teddy Ballgame and Yaz in home runs (382), RBI (1,451) and most other offensive categories on the Red Sox all-time lists. The 1978 MVP batted .298 for his career, all in Boston. The 406 total bases he racked up in ’78 are still the Sox single-season record.

S-Tris Speaker. The Hall of Fame outfielder’s .337 average ranks third in Boston history, where he played the first nine years of his 22 year career. In 1912 Speaker batted .383 and led the league in home runs with 10 while winning the MVP Award. In 1912 he also won the first of two World Series titles as a member of the Sox. He would help them win it all again in 1915, his final season in Boston. On a side note, I hear Bob Stanley (Red Sox all-time leader in games pitched and saves) is a faithful reader of my articles…. so my apologies to “The Steamer”.

T-Luis Tiant. El Tiante pitched for the Sox from 1970-79, amassing an impressive record of 122-81. From ’73-’76 he recorded win totals of 20, 22, 18 and 21. In 1972 his 1.91 ERA was the American League’s best. His perfect 3-0 record and 2.86 ERA in the post-season helped to cement his reputation as one of the 1970’s best big-game pitchers.

U-Ugueth Urbina. There were three choices: Urbina, Tom Umphlett and Bob Unglaub. I’ll take the guy that had 40 saves and made the All-Star team in his only full season with Boston over guys named Umphlett and Unglaub any day.

V-Mo Vaughn. Sox captain Jason Varitek is close, but for now the 1995 MVP still gets the ‘V’ nod. The three-time All-Star is fifth on the team’s all-time home run list with 230, and his 752 RBI rank eighth. From 1995-98 the Hit Dog had a .320 batting average and averaged 40 home runs and 120 RBI. Will likely be surpassed by Varitek soon, maybe as early as next year.

W-Ted Williams. Obviously.

X-Nobody.

Y-Carl Yastrzemski. Cy Young, who is tied with Clemens for most wins in team history, was a possibility here, but tough to go against #8. Captain Carl was the 1967 MVP and Triple Crown Winner (last person to win it), while leading the Sox to the AL pennant in the ‘Impossible Dream’ season. Yaz is the team’s all-time leader in games, at bats, runs, hits, RBI, total bases, singles, doubles, intentional walks, sacrifice flies…

Z-Al Zarilla. As much as I was hoping Bob Zupcic was going to make this list I had to give Zarilla the final slot. He played parts of four seasons from 1949-53 with Boston, finishing with a .289 average, 20 home runs and 157 RBI over 332 games. In 1950 his .325 average was good for fifth best in the American League.

So from A-Armas to Z-Zarilla, and everyone in between, these are the greatest Red Sox of all-time by the letters. I hope this helped to celebrate National Reading Week, and Red Sox history, in style.